Your Right to Know

Senate Democrats want to direct $508 million more to Ohio schools over the next two years by
eliminating part of a GOP-proposed tax cut for upper-income Ohioans.

More money for schools and local governments, plus an expansion of Medicaid to cover those
earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, are among the priorities for Democrats as
the Senate crafts changes over the next two weeks to the two-year, $61.5 billion budget.

“It is clear the General Assembly is not making the investments necessary for Ohio’s citizens to
retain a competitiveness in the global marketplace through the vehicle of education,” said Sen.
Nina Turner, D-Cleveland.

Most of that money would be directed to a new Targeted Investment Fund, which would distribute
funds to districts based on three factors: low-income students, 10th-graders who pass the Ohio
Graduation Test on the first try, and the readiness of students who enter kindergarten.

About 60 percent of districts statewide would meet the minimum score to get additional funding,
including six in Franklin County: Columbus, Groveport Madison, Hamilton, Reynoldsburg,
South-Western and Whitehall.

“The students and schools that need more resources will get those resources,” Turner said.

About $60 million of the funds would be used to boost funding for school district
transportation.

Senate Democrats, who are in a deep minority and are usually unsuccessful in getting their
amendments approved, also want to reinstate Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to expand Medicaid,
covering an estimated 275,000 low-income Ohioans and bringing in about $13 billion in federal money
over seven years.

The House pulled Kasich’s Medicaid proposal out of the budget, and Senate President Keith Faber,
R-Celina, has been clear that a Medicaid expansion proposal is not going back in. Both House and
Senate GOP leaders have said they will work on separate legislation.

Other Senate Democratic ideas:

• Provide $35 million per year for school safety, such as security guards, locks or cameras.

• Eliminate a House-added provision that gives in-state tuition rates to out-of-state students
who use university documentation to qualify to vote in Ohio.

• Reinstate Kasich’s proposed tax on shale drilling, and use that money for work-force
development related to oil and gas.